A facility for training local staff by local staff has been opened in Thailand

July 3, 2014Takenaka Corporation

Thai Takenaka International Ltd. (Managing director: Kimito Nukuyu), an overseas corporation of Takenaka Corporation (President: Masahiro Miyashita), has built and is now operating TAKSA※1, a practical technology training center in Bang Pakong, a suburb of Bangkok, to pass down knowledge and techniques to local Thai staff to further enhance their construction management skills.

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The name “TAKSA” derives from the Thai word for “technique,” which is also a combination of the first three letters of “Takenaka,”and the abbreviation for “Sustainable Ability”.

Background behind the establishment of TAKSA

Thai Takenaka, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in March 2014, is presently managing construction at work sites mainly with staff who have been on the job for more than 10 years. In recent years, there has been robust investment in Thai facilities, especially by Japanese companies. At the same time, with an eye toward medium-to-long-term project development, Thai Takenaka has proposed guidelines for employing new exceptional college graduates and enhancing their skills not with on-the-job training, but with off-the-job training. Against this backdrop, TAKSA was established to pass down knowledge and techniques for enhancing construction management skills and to maintain consistent quality.

About the training at TAKSA

TAKSA is based on the concepts of the hands-on “Omoi”※2 Practical Technology Training Center that Takenaka built in Hyogo Prefecture in 2011 for teaching techniques and studying the basics of craftsmanship through training by “looking, touching, and realization”. It contains many actual-size exhibits of building frames, finishes, and equipment installation that are easy to understand merely by looking at them. The Thai facility is characterized by local staff handling most of the work, from making training plans to formulating and executing programs, and it is operated with “local eyes” that can respond to local issues and conditions. The beginner’s course, which is designed for local employees who have been with the company for less than five years, is taught by veteran local staff.
In the future, the facility will offer intermediate and advanced courses to train Thai Takenaka’s core and advanced staff, and plans are also being made to train staff of collaborating companies. Work is also proceeding to enable affiliated companies in neighboring countries that are considering enhancing the training of their employees to utilize the facility and curriculum, and turn Thailand into a “training hub” of Southeast Asia.

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“Omoi”: The first hands-on training facility for a general contractor that uses actual-size building frames (opened January 2011)